I think we can all agree that hunters are always looking for that secret “Gold Mine,” where they can consistently shoot Big Bucks every year. Why Not? These spots make for the most memorable Hunts! Yes, the Perfect spot that you can always count on when the conditions are perfect! Why Not? These Treestand Placement secrets will help you to have the most memorable hunts ever!
It’s not easy to find these spots, but it certainly can be done with some Hard work, Scouting, Disciplined Hunting, and great tree stand placement.
I found my “Gold Mine,” by using the 18- tree stand placement secrets Below!
Why Treestand Placement Is Crucial
Is your goal to shoot a Mature Buck? It should be! At least a Buck that makes you happy!
Rut Bucks can show up at any stand location when chasing does. During the early season, Mature Bucks are more pattern-able as they are on the same pattern nearly everyday, and they have very small home ranges. Each deer needs Food, Water, and Cover in order to survive, so this is a great spot to start with your treestand placement! Bucks aren’t real picky om where they bed, because there is low human intrusion and TONS of food!
Yes, there are absolutely more factors that go into a real Hunting situation (Weather, Scent Control, Camouflage, and More).As far as a treestand location, there are better spots within the basic areas already mentioned. By setting up your treestand in one of the high percentage areas below, you’ll be in great position to tag the Big Buck!
1. E-Scouting
You can use e-scouting to find some ideal spots for deer hunting. You can narrow down 3,000 acres down to a couple of acres to target when scouting and after scouting those areas you can make the decision if it’s worth hanging a trail camera or not. This tactic is ideal for out of town hunts or when hunting a new property. By using E-scouting you can find some target areas to potentially Hunt!
2. Most Recent Deer Sign
Before choosing my treestand placement, I like to do a couple of things. First, I like to do an on foot scouting trip, to actually see how much deer sign there is in that area. I want to make sure this is a spot that has a lot of activity year after year. There are a lot of areas that show deer sign, and this is where a lot of hunters get caught up. Some of the sign you find can be misleading! Of course it is fun and exciting to find massive rubs and scrapes. The misleading part about it is that they are mainly used at night!
I like to look for fresh scat, tracks, and browse. By focusing in on these three factors you can narrow down a lot of spots. By looking for these three you are gaining the most recent information (MRI). Finding old and fresh signs, shows that deer have been using this area for a long time.
The last thing that I like to take note of is rubs and scrapes. Yes, this is not the main signs that I look for because if you let it, those signs will mislead you. When you find a good rub of scrape line, you will then have a good area to target during the Pre-Rut–Post-Rut. Bucks will use the same scrapes and rubles year after year, so definitely note these areas!
3. Using Trail Cameras
I Love to use this strategy after finding 5-10 good spots for Hunting. This is the second strategy that I do when scouting an area. I will Hang my trail cameras up in these areas, sometimes I will hang two in the same area but maybe a different spot on the trail of field. I will let my trail cameras sit for 3-4 weeks, and I will use the valuable information from my trail cameras to decide if it is a spot worth hanging a treestand.
Trail Cameras are one of the best tools to pattern deer. Using a tool Like Hunt Perfect,you can see trends in the deer movement and essentially pattern each deer! You can make a profile for each Buck and see what days, times, and conditions that certain Buck is moving! This is also a very affordable and easy to use tool! By using FeatherNett2018 you can get a special deal! Make Sure to Sign Up Here–> Hunt Perfect
Wireless cameras are becoming more popular as this allows you to receive each picture to your phone! This give the average Hunter a Huge advantage, especially when Hunting a New property because you are gaining information as it happens! This also keeps the hunting pressure low on your deer heard. I highly suggest getting some wireless trail cameras.
Read More: Here is an additional article on Trail Camera placement for summer scouting!
4. Agriculture Fields
This is a great spot for place to hang a treestand, because the deer are going to Agriculture fields each night to eat. Why are Agriculture fields so good in the early season & late season? Bucks in the early season are still are their summer feeding pattern, which means they will be feeding on the abundance of food on the fields each night!
As long as these areas remain unpressured the deer will continue to stay on this pattern until their velvet drys out. When the Bucks velvet starts to shed, they will separate their bachelor groups and move onto their rutting properties. You have a short window to capitalize on the Buck that you have scouted all summer, so make sure to keep it unpressured and hunt when the conditions are right!
Best Stands for this Location: Box Blinds, Ground blinds and Lock on treestands. The Blinds will offer complete concealment, and contain your scent! Make sure to tuck the blind up again the woods with easy and with a bullet proof access strategy! You don’t walk across the middle of a field to get to your stand when the deer are bedded right up against the food source!
With Lock-on stands you can have them set up on the field edge during the summer. They will be ready to access when the conditions are perfect for that stand! I like lock-ons because you can set up multiple stands for various wind directions, which we will talk more about later!
These strategies are best for Early Season & Late season as deer are on a strict feeding pattern!
5. Secondary Food Sources
A secondary food source Is a great place to catch a Big Buck hanging out until dark. A lot of deer will stay back in the woods until dusk browsing on White acorn, red acorn, hickory nuts, and beach nuts beside a main food source like an agriculture field.
Deer will be in these areas during daylight, but the problem is that the deer are spread out because there is an abundance of food. The key here is to find the first dropping acorns! The deer will target these areas before heading out into the main fields for the night.
6. Food Plots
Placing your treestand on a food plot is similar to a field. The perfect thing about a food plot is that you can put it in a secluded area that you have a bullet proof entry and exit plan for. This will improve the results you have hunting in this spot and you can customize the design of the Plot to give you a great advantage!
Sometimes bucks will come to a secluded food source like a food plot before going out into the main field. The secluded food source will give the mature bucks a sense of safety, you could have deer showing up to your food plot early in the evening so make sure to use the times and other data trends gathered by your Trail Cameras!
Best Stands for this Location: Climbers and Lock-ons are ideal for this treestand location. This gives you the opportunity to make quick and easy adjustments to the placement of your treestand. You can also pre-set some lock on stands, which will make it easy to sneak into your spot!
7. Heavy Cover & Water
The early season days that are very hot are perfect times to sit on a water source! Deer are like humans, they need water to survive. I know that deer love a nice secluded area to get a deer and cool down a little bit. Deer will be bedded close by a lot of times, and for this reason Lock-on Treestands will be the best way to go. Make sure that you can quietly get into your stand, because like we said earlier a lot of the time the deer will be bedded right beside the water.
Yes, we know that it is risky to hunt so close to bedding areas early in the season, but the risk can pay off BIG if you have a bullet proof entrance. This means one that you will not be seen, heard, or smelled. Make sure that your entrance follows those 3-factors and you will be in great shape to tag a mature Buck early in the season!
Cover can also be great when the rut is full swing. The mature doe that are going into estrus, will hide in thick areas to avoid the younger bucks. Finding a great spot that has rubs and scrapes that are between 2 bedding areas. This shows that bucks are traveling that area, and during the Pre-Rut–The Post-Rut there is a great chance of catching a mature buck cruising through!
8. Play Wind & Thermals
Once you have decided on the general area that you want to hang a treestand, pay attention to the wind and thermal current in that area. You always want to be down wind or cross-wind of the deer. Again I am going to stress the importance of an entrance and exit strategy. This is a big part of playing the wind. I suggest of having a couple different entrance and exits based on certain wind directions.
9. Funnels (Typography)
The typography of an area, as well as the bodies of water, thick brush, man-made funnels, and cow pastures will set up funnels that you can use to your advantage. By checking a top map you can see some natural funnels in the lay of the land. Deer like the least resistance of travel.
You can see where there are steep hills and ridges that deer might be using to travel, and you can see transition lines that deer will use frequently! I love checking for nature funnels when doing my E-scouting using the top map layer on my OnX Hunt App.
You can also create man-made funnels by cutting some trees down or making some thick brush piles so the deer have no choice but to walk past your stand!
10. Best Time to Hang Your TreeStand
Determining the best time to Hang your treestand is based one a few things:
- When & Where are you planing to hunt? Your traditional property? Public land? Out of state? If it is public land you risk having your treestand stolen if you leave it out. So you will need to be familiar with the area you want to hunt.
- If you are hunting a private property, it is a little safer to hang your lock-on treestands in the middle of summer. This will insure that you are ready for the first golden opportunity at a Mature Buck when the conditions are right!
You will want to consider the time of year that you plan on hunting the stand. Early season? Rut? or Late season? This will help you to know the times to consider that stand. I love having my treestand fully prepared in place about 2-3 months before season. I definitely like to gain 3-4 weeks of trail camera pictures before deciding to hang a treestand there or not.
11. Entry & Exit
We talked about this earlier in the post. Here we will reiterate this important topic. It is very important, this alone could make and break a hunt! All advanced hunters make sure they have a bulletproof entry and exit strategy. The entrance is very crucial to your hunt because you can easily spook deer if you aren’t careful! make sure to always be down wind of the deer.
How do you know where the deer are? This is where your off-season scouting takes place! It is time to take the time to go out and find the bedding areas, and how the deer use the property. I think this is one of the most important practices that your can do in the deer woods! I can promise that you will se more daylight movement and more deer on the property. In order to get these results you also need to practice a good exit strategy.
The perfect exit strategy would be leaving through a field in the morning, or just a general area that the deer don’t use frequently. A hay-field or cow pasture would be an ideal location here. In the evenings, exiting through the woods in probably the best bet as the deer are in the fields feeding. Another great place and probably the best entry and exit route is through a creek, or river. Your odor is being washed away by the water (On your boots) and the deer won’t be crossing rivers most likely.
12. Hang It High
We get a lot of questions from our audience asking how high should they hang their treestand? Every situation is different, but in most cases the higher the better, as long as you are comfortable and as long as it doesn’t limit your shot opportunity. When Bow Hunting the deer will have to be closer in order to shoot them. The higher you hang the stand the harder it is for the deer to see and smell you!
I love being up high so that it is more difficult for deer to see me. Being up high in the stand allows an advantage over the deer. If you can get out of the deers view then you can get away with a little more movement and your scent will stay higher in the air and make it harder for the deer to smell you. It is still very important to practice scent control!
13. Make the Most out of Cover
Making the most of cover can make a difference from getting picked out or successfully getting drawn back on a mature buck 20-yards away. If you pick a tree that has some branches with leafs on it, you can gain a lot of cover. If there are too many branches and leafs, you can use a hand or pole saw to cut needed shooting lanes, and to make room for yourself.
You shouldn’t be able to look at the tree your stand is in, and clearly see it. This is setting yourself up to get busted. I take some smaller branches from above and bend them down to conceal the set-up. If you can go the extra mile and create a set-up that will keep you invisible to the Deers eyes, then I can bet that you will have some really successful hunts.
When you have a great scent control program, great concealment, and don’t make any noise the deer are unlikely to know you are there. Think of ways to improve the following:
- Scent Control -Get on a Bulletproof scent control program! Ours is coming soon!
- Concealment– Finding ways to hide yourself from the deer is crucial when it comes time to shooting that Big Buck!
- Stealth -Be quiet, move slowly, and make sure to pay attention to your surroundings! I have seen hunters step on branches and it cracked throughout the woods. This is what mature bucks avoid. I have seen other hunters rub the tree with their coat or bow and it will alert the deer. You can recover from these little errors, but It is better to avoid simple errors like these.
NOTE: The tips above cover the main senses for Deer. If you beat these senses, you are going to have Success!
14. Shooting Lanes
Prepare your stand to make the shot! When you have decided to set-up your stand, think about where that big buck will be and what he will be doing. What trail will he be coming down? Make sure that you have good ideal of where the deer will be coming from. You can now take the time to cut some good shooting lanes.
I always like to cut some good 5-10 yard windows, because you knew know what the deer will be doing. For instance this year I miss the Biggest Buck that I have ever shot at. I had one small shooting lane and sure enough the 6 doe out in front of him, during the pre-rut, made him start to trout through my lane right when I released my arrow. That caused my to put a bad shot on the buck and I never found Him.
This is all apart of hunting, but you need to make sure to control the controllables. Yes, I could have tried to cut a larger shooting lane. These are the things that you have to think about in the offseason, and make sure that you’re prepared when it comes time to releasing that arrow on a Monster. This is a lesson that I will never forget, and I will always trim 10-20 yard shooting lanes!
15. Visibility
You can’t shoot what you can’t see. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing thick areas that you can hunt and have success, the bucks feel safe in these areas so they are definitely good, but if you can, try to hunt near cover and intercept them while returning from feeding to bedding or vise-versa.
I feel that if you can see, you can have a good fighting chance! If you can’t see and you don’t have many shooting lanes, you’re limited to what you can do. It just makes it very difficult to make everything workout, but don’t get me wrong it does and has worked for a lot of hunters.
I have had deer out at 150-yards on multiple occasions, and after a couple grunts and rattles, they were 10-15-yards away. This is the power of seeing. If I would have been in a thick area, I would have never seen the deer to call it in. When you have a high visibility stand you can also observe. Let’s say that deer at 150-yards didn’t come into my stand, I would still be able to see where it went and possibly make a plan to hunt that deer the following day!
16. Options
It is great to have options. This goes all the way back to the first step “E-scouting.” This is where you decide on 5-10 ideal locations that would make a great hunting location. Food, Water, and cover are necessities when choosing a great hunting location.
Even having multiple treestands none area is great, this gives you the opportunity to hunt this spot on multiple winds. Hopefully you have great funnels and access points, that allow you to hunt this area effectively! When you have multiple properties with multiple set-ups this allows you to use the Most Recent Information (MRI) to choose the hotspots and eliminate the dead areas.
Make sure to pay close attention to your cameras, because a certain spot could heat up quickly depending on the time of year! This is a great way to catch a Buck. The best way to utilize this tactic is by using wireless Trail Cameras. You can access the cameras easier and choose the hotspots on your properties!
17. Use the Sun
This is a great strategy mainly for morning hunts as the sun Is rising. When you are hanging your treestand think about where the sun will be when you are hunting. Do you like looking into the sun? No, it is also uncomfortable for the deer. Humans actually have a built In uv resistant layer over our eyes, deer do not. This Is just a little too that you can try to add to your treestand placement strategies.
18. Choose your “GOLD MINE”
Now that you have read through all of these treestand placement tips, you can finally decide where the best spot for you is! I encourage you to go step-by-step through this post to find the perfect stand placement. Just take actions and continue to grow as a hunter!
Adapting your hunting strategies to whatever the deer are doing is the best way to hunting success! Thank you for reading and please leave any questions or additional tactics below!